


Warning

by I_Gave_You_Fair_Warning



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace, Star Wars Prequel Trilogy
Genre: Death, Estrangement, Gen, Lightsaber Wounds, Miscommunication, Unhappy Ending
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-11
Updated: 2017-11-11
Packaged: 2019-01-31 21:11:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,023
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12690297
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/I_Gave_You_Fair_Warning/pseuds/I_Gave_You_Fair_Warning
Summary: After Naboo, the Council sent Knight Kenobi to find the second Sith.He found him, alright.





	Warning

 

Obi-Wan held back a scream as he lay on the ground damp from his blood.

He wasn't sure why he hung on to life at this point. He _knew_ his wounding to be fatal, but the Force whispered to him to hold on just a little longer.

So he did.

When Qui-Gon and his apprentice invaded Obi-Wan's blurred vision, he wondered for a moment if he might be hallucinating.

But nothing could have prepared him for the look on his former master's face. He couldn't have imagined something so terrible. He wasn't quite sure he understood it now.

Somehow, it hurt far worse than the vicious saber that had toyed with his innards.

“Turn around, Anakin,” Qui-Gon commanded.

_Too late._

The thirteen-year-old obeyed, but he kept sneaking peeks over his shoulder, Qui-Gon too focused on Obi-Wan to notice.

_This is what the Force wanted me to wait for._

Somehow, against  _all_ indications to the contrary, Qui-Gon was  _here,_ and not on Ragoon VI.

_Here,_ so Obi-Wan could turn over his intel.

_One last strike at those who killed me._

Warmth bled into him, a satisfaction he'd been denied as he waited to die, hopeless, knowing  _so many_ would die because he was taking what he'd discovered to the grave with him.

_You miscalculated, Sith._

Qui-Gon knelt beside him, and the most telling thing of all? He didn't try to save Obi-Wan. He simply looked down at him in grief.

_That obviously fatal, is it?_

He didn't have much time.

“Who did this?” Qui-Gon asked, and despite four years of estrangement, his voice was unsteady.

And this was why Obi-Wan wished it was anyone other than his beloved master who was here, now, because the words he was going to say would  _hurt_ him— “I'm sorry,” Obi-Wan rasped. “Dooku is Sith.”

Qui-Gon recoiled in horror. “ _What_ ?”  
“Maul was not the master. He was the apprentice, and now Dooku has taken his place. His name is Tyranus now. I saw—  _I saw_ the Sith master. But I couldn't see his face, and I do not know his name—”

Oh, it  _hurt,_ it  _hurt_ to speak, the vibration in and expansion of his lungs edging the pain from unbearable to something  _worse,_ so much worse—

“I'm sorry, Qui-Gon, the master  _took—_ he— you have to tell Yoda. Please tell Yoda. The Sith master tore through my shields like they were nothing. He saw everything in my mind.  _Everything._ ” A single tear escaped Obi-Wan's eye, an anguished memory. “Temple security protocols. All I know about Anakin. Your  _door codes—_ ” Shame flooded him, sharp and bitter. “I am  _sorry._ I fought him— but—”

Qui-Gon wouldn't know, since he'd been avoiding Obi-Wan for the last four years, but  _Yoda_ would understand the significance.

Even Yoda and Windu combined couldn't break into Obi-Wan's mind.

That specialized talent and training was why he'd been  _chosen_ to unravel the Sith mystery.

Even now, his shields lay strangely braced together, slipping and leaning crazily.

He had put no effort into trying to rebuild them.

They were too damaged from the Sith's invasion, and he needed to be able to  _speak._

“The master told Dooku I knew too much—” he gagged on blood, but refused to be silenced— “Dooku said  _Qui-Gon loves him,_ but the master told him to kill me, so he did  _this—_ ”

“No,” Qui-Gon breathed, hand reaching for Obi-Wan but hesitant to touch him.

Probably for fear of causing him more pain.

Obi-Wan shook his head, reaching out to Qui-Gon as well. He only managed to get a fistful of tunic.

_Not even a clean kill._ The master had been so  _pleased,_ had  _praised_ Dooku's cruelty— mocked Obi-Wan that Qui-Gon was away, far away— mentioned Ragoon VI by name— that Obi-Wan would die  _alone_ —

The vicious memories leaked through his broken mind, they were _reaching_ Qui-Gon, Obi-Wan could _sense_ it, but his master wasn't _listening._ He was shaking his head. “There has to be a reason. Perhaps he's undercover—”

“Please wait until I'm gone before inventing ways to justify Dooku,” Obi-Wan choked, somewhere between a harsh laugh and a sob. “He's  _lived_ his life. I don't see why he needed to take  _mine._ ” Obi-Wan curled over his wounds, shaking, shaking.

No. They couldn't fight. Not now. Not— at the end.

“The Sith master offered me anything my heart had ever craved— he knew it  _all—_ he wanted me to Turn.”

“But you didn't,” Qui-Gon breathed, eyes blurring.

Or was that just Obi-Wan's own eyes refusing to focus? “I refused, and he gave Dooku the order.”

Anakin was still watching, his expression torn between horror and shocked fascination.

It hurt to be a curiosity. Possibly the first man dying by saber wound that Anakin had ever seen.

But then the pain was far too great for him to care, and Qui-Gon was speaking, but Obi-Wan couldn't unscramble the words to understand—

“I thought if I could uncover the Sith, you could be proud of me again,” Obi-Wan chuckled through blood and tears. “I was a fool.”

“Obi-Wan, listen to me.”

Obi-Wan forced himself to obey, peering up into Qui-Gon's eyes, much closer now to his own.

“I am very proud of you.”

The memory of shields tattered and  _wrecked,_ trying to fend off Dooku— it only took seven seconds for Dooku to overpower and destroy him.

Obi-Wan felt weak, naive,  _pathetic._

“Not many could stand against Dooku,” Qui-Gon murmured, sounding heartbroken.

He must have seen the memory.

“You fought well, Padawan.”

The word brought a stab of pain all its own, even as it felt so good.

He allowed himself to relax into Qui-Gon's arms as his former master pulled him close.

“I will see you soon, or never again,” Obi-Wan whispered.

Qui-Gon squeezed his hand. “What?”

“You will try to talk to Dooku. Either he doesn't fool you so he kills you, or you join him.”

Obi-Wan dragged in a labored breath.

But the next one refused to come, and and as he fought to make his diaphragm work, his vision tunneled until all went silent and still.

Too tired to feel fear, Obi-Wan felt death steal over him like sleep.

 


End file.
